The first match of the season came down to the wire against the Duke Blue Devils on Wednesday night for the NC State volleyball team and the Pack drew the short end of the stick. And for the fourth consecutive time, the match between these two went to five sets.

After finishing the 2019 season with a disappointing 11-19 record, NC State volleyball has a chance to start off hot against a Duke team that finished with just 12 wins last season.

NC State volleyball finally starts its regular season matchups against Duke this week, marking the beginning of a strange eight-game, four-opponent season running through October.

All of NC State Athletics will begin the season without fans in attendance, according to a statement made by the department. The decision was made to cooperate with state guidelines and will last until at least the end of September.

With the announcement of NC State undergraduate courses moving to a strictly online setting as of Aug. 24, heads quickly turned to NC State Athletics to see how fall sports would be impacted by the decision. This statement was released just minutes after the announcement on Thursday afternoon:

Whenever the NC State volleyball team takes the court again, it will be managed by quite a different coaching staff, including a brand new head coach, as well as five new additions to the team. 

NCAA President Mark Emmert announced in a video posted on the NCAA Twitter account that there would be no fall sports championships this calendar year. The announcement does not impact football as the postseason is decided on by the Bowl Championship Series.